


Roots

by regault



Series: Gateway [2]
Category: Digimon Adventure, X-Men Evolution
Genre: Adulthood, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Gen, New Situations, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 07:46:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1597121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regault/pseuds/regault
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Just two weeks," Taichi had told her. "Like… summer camp."</p>
<p>After promising her family she'd give the Institute a try, Hikari learns to accept everything that she's becoming, while making a decision that could change her life for better or worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roots

_Taking steps is easy_

_Standing still is hard_

**_-_ Regina Spektor**

 

-

 

She sat on the edge of her seat, nose pressed against the window, watching the ocean pass beneath them as Jean told her of the Institute, tales of students who were there, the things that had happened, and the way everyone had grown in understanding their own powers, learning their strengths, their limits.

“We’re here to help you,” she smiled at Hikari, taking her hands while glancing at Tailmon, who shifted forward. “And no one is going to understand what you’re going through more than us. The Professor and I, we’re both telepathic. We understand what it’s like, how hard it is to keep your voices out.”

Hikari turned to face her fully, looking at her soft face while pulling Tailmon deeper into her lap, leaning her cheek against her monster friend’s soft scalp.

“Sometimes,” she mumbled, blinking hard, “I feel like I’m spying. And I hate it, I hate I know their feelings, I hate I know their intimate thoughts and dreams. People’s minds… they should be private, y’know?”

The Professor leaned back from his station at the cockpit, light reflecting off his bald head. He smiled at her.

“It’s normal to have these feelings,” he said soothingly. “I had such problems when I was your age, as did Jean. You will learn, over time, how to keep them out. My main worry Hikari,” he pressed a couple buttons, allowing the plane’s autopilot to take over for the moment, “is how you can see these things that aren’t there. The way your mother described it to us, over the phone… well, it gave some colleagues and I some theories on how you’re doing this.”

 Hikari pulled Tailmon into her even tighter, blinking her exhaustion and tears back.

 “I’m not crazy.”

“No,” Xavier nodded, attempting to turn his chair back towards the plane’s controls. “It’s real, and natural for you. Much like you’re telepathy, we want to help you to control it. Whatever you’re doing, it’ll soon go away, and it’ll become second nature to you. Like… blinking.”

He gave her a small smile while tapping his nose, wheeling himself back to his station at the control panel. Jean leaned forward, retaking Hikari’s hands, rubbing her thumbs along Hikari’s palms in a comforting manner.

“What you need,” she said softly, “is a decent sleep.”

She pulled away, and began to rooting through the book bag at her feet. Both Tailmon and Hikari noted the pens, pencils and other small odds and ends that fell out.

“Here,” Jean said triumphantly, finding a small bottle of pills. “Good for anxiety when you’re stressed for finals, or when your brain decides to expand on you and you start hearing people’s thoughts and you can’t sleep.”

Xavier looked over his shoulder towards Jean, brow furrowed.

“I told you to be careful with those.”

Hikari took the bottle from Jean, shifting uncomfortably in her seat, while Tailmon eyeballed them. Jean shot the Professor a look.

“Mr McCoy gave them to me,” Jean shot back, sounding defensive. “They’re perfectly safe, and they help.”

The two newcomers sat silently as the telepaths stared each other down, seemingly having a conversation that they couldn’t hear. Xavier eventually turned back to the window.

“Fine,” he voice lowered, darkly. “Fine.”

Tailmon looked up at Hikari, reaching to touch her face with a paw as Jean looked at her.

“You look like you haven’t gotten any rest in a month. Telepathy makes it hard, I know. And the school is a 13 hour differance from your home, sleep will at least help get you on our time schedule with minimal jet lag.”

“Now that,” Xavier chimed in from the front, “I do agree with. You will have a lot to accustom to, and moving your sleep schedule will at least help some. Get some rest.”

Hikari leaned into Tailmon’s paw, eyes closed, sighing deeply.

“You can trust them,” she said softly. “I know you can. And I’ll watch over you, like I promised you. I’ll keep you safe.”

Hikari pulled the bottle from Jean’s outstretched hand, opening it, and allowing one pill to drop into her hand, looking at it and chewing her lip slowly.

She looked to Tailmon, to Jean, and back at the little white pill. Without another thought she dropped it onto her tongue, dry swallowing it, rolling her eyes to the back of her head as she did it.

“See you on the other side, I suppose,” she gave the two a crooked half-smile. “A good sleep does sound nice.”

Jean waited as the girl began to drift off, large brown eyes blinking rapidly as the pill took effect, eventually giving in with a deep, steady breath. Her head tilted back as her breathing evened out, slow and steady, lips parted slightly.

Tailmon rested her ear against Hikari’s chest, listening to her rhythmic breathing, looking relieved.

“I honestly don’t think she’s slept through the night,” she whispered to Jean, as not to wake her friend. “Not fully for at least three months. This has been so, so hard on her.”

Jean tilted her head, smiling softly.

“You really love her, don’t you,” she stated, turning back to her bag, riffling through it, and Tailmon noticed how the various things that had originally been dumped unceremoniously, were beginning to lift themselves off the floor, organizing themselves into a proper bundle before sliding themselves back into Jean's bag. “You, her family. And all your friends. None of you turned on her for what she is. That’s true loyalty.”

She pulled a textbook from her bag, dropping it on her lap, where it flew open an earmarked page.

“We’ve been through too much to let small things like this be a problem. Two wars, you see way too much destruction,” Tailmon shrugged. “I am bound to her. I am as much a part of her as she is to me, and she needs me. We all rely on eachother, and there’s no room for hate.”

Tailmon curled her body deeply into Hikari’s lap, breathing deep, looking up at her serene, sleeping face.

“I would die for her.”

Jean glanced up from her textbook, and the highlighter that had been following her finger stopped. She tilted her head, brow slightly forrowed.

“Well, here’s hoping that it doesn’t come to that. But she will need all the support she can get, from you, from all of you. And with our help, and the supportive environment we have set up over at the school, I’m sure she’ll excel. She’ll control it. It’ll be fine.”

The monster looked at Jean, studying her face, feeling at ease with the woman’s words. She burrowed her way deeper into Hikari’s lap, relaxing as she heard the young girl take a deep sigh.

The safety of it all, Jean and the Professor, made her feel much more at ease. She knew she had to protect Hikari at all costs, however, this felt right.

It was going to be safe for her.

**Author's Note:**

> Mixing my love of X-Men Evolution [really, all Marvel] and Digimon.
> 
> I'll try to work on this as I can. I HAVE A WHOLE SERIES PLANNED. In the back of my mind. The plot's all jotted down.


End file.
